Rita Osyanina
Krasnoarmeyets Rita Osyanina was a Red Army soldier serving behind the front lines in the Summer of 1942. Starshina Fedot Vaskov having asked for soldiers who don't drink alcohol and fraternize with women, Vaskov is unexpectedly assigned a group of young female anti-aircraft gunners to help protect a railway station. Vaskov is not used to commanding women, and therefore clashes with them over daily issues. During an air raid, one of the girls, Rita Osyanina, shoots down an enemy aircraft and is decorated for her deeds, but she doesn't accept the award. It turns out that Rita volunteered to join the anti-aircraft unit because she has family nearby. She regularly sneaks food back to her mother and baby, who are not far from the front. One day, Rita, having secretly carried rations to her family during the night, comes across two German Fallschirmjägers while on her way back to her garrison. Vaskov chooses five volunteers: Rita Osyanina, Zhenya Komelkova, Lisa Britschkina, Galya Chetvertak, and Sonia Gurvich, to embark with him on a mission to eliminate them. They decide to cross the marshland in order to intercept the Germans, but going is slow and treacherous, causing Galya to lose a boot. When they finally reach the location that Vaskov knows that the German Fallschirmjägers will have to cross through, they lie in wait—only to find that there are sixteen German Fallschirmjägers instead of two. His soldiers come up with the idea to make the Fallschirmjägers think that there are a lot of civilians in their path by cutting down trees and lighting fires, which will cause the Germans to change direction. Though the plan almost fails, Zhenya's last-minute audacity by jumping into the river convinces the Fallschirmjägers to take a longer route through the forest. Vaskov sends Lisa back to base for reinforcements. The group left in the forest prepare to reroute and try to avoid direct contact with enemy troops. Backs against the wall, they engage in guerrilla warfare with the Germans. Sonia and Galya are both shot and die immediately from their wounds. Vaskov, in an attempt to create a diversion, then leads the Germans away from the remaining two soldiers, firing at them with his Nagant revolver as they chase him through the forest. Vaskov is shot in the arm but manages to escape from the Germans—realizing that the reinforcements have not come, he hallucinates about Lisa, who tells him that she failed because she went too fast, drowning in the wet marshland. He once again miraculously comes across Rita and Zhenya, but after a tearful reunion realizes that they have disobeyed his orders to retreat. He searches in his bag for a grenade to mount a suicide attack with, but finds that the girls have taken the detonator out. Although he threatens to court martial them for continuing to disobey orders, they refuse to leave and instead prepare to ambush the Germans. During a prolonged engagement, Rita is injured by shrapnel from a grenade, and tells Zhenya to leave her. Realizing that they are cornered, Zhenya disobeys Vaskov's orders to cover them and instead taunts and lures the Germans away through the forest, as Vaskov did earlier, and is shot to death. Vaskov stays with Rita against her wishes to treat her wounds, and promises to take her back to base. She asks him to take care of her son in the neighboring village. After kissing her at her request, he then leaves to find a way out of the area, leaving her the revolver, but soon comes back to find Rita dead by her own hand. The desperate Vaskov, armed only with knife, one shot in his revolver, and a deactivated grenade, returns to the cabin where the Germans are resting from their wounds. By stabbing a soldier, shooting another, and bluffing with the grenade, he is able to capture a submachine gun and force the remaining enemy troops to drop their weapons. Though he mocks them, he eventually takes the three remaining Germans as prisoners back to Soviet lines. The rest of the women of the regiment, who have come to rescue the group, find Vaskov before he passes out from exhaustion. Thirty years after the war ends, Vaskov visits the area of the battle again with an officer, implied to be Rita's son. Gallery Rita Osyanina (2).jpg Rita Osyanina (3).jpg Rita Osyanina (4).png Rita Osyanina (5).jpg Rita Osyanina and Zhenya Komelkova.jpg|Rita Osyanina and Zhenya Komelkova. Zhenya Komelkova and Rita Osyanina.jpg|Zhenya Komelkova and Rita Osyanina. Zhenya Komelkova, Galya Chetvertak and Rita Osyanina.jpg|Zhenya Komelkova, Galya Chetvertak and Rita Osyanina. Galya Chetvertak, Rita Osyanina and Zhenya Komelkova.jpg|Galya Chetvertak, Rita Osyanina and Zhenya Komelkova. Rita Osyanina, Zhenya Komelkova, Lisa Britschkina, Sonia Gurvich and Galya Chetvertak.jpg|Rita Osyanina, Zhenya Komelkova, Lisa Britschkina, Sonia Gurvich and Galya Chetvertak. Galya Chetvertak, Zhenya Komelkova, Sonia Gurvich, Fedot Vaskov, Rita Osyanina and Lisa Britschkina.jpg|Galya Chetvertak, Zhenya Komelkova, Sonia Gurvich, Fedot Vaskov, Rita Osyanina and Lisa Britschkina. Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita Osyanina, Rita